No Bail For Maynard Man Charged With Placing Explosive Devices

MAYNARD (CBS) — Police arrested a man Wednesday morning in connection with a suspicious device found earlier in the week.

Maynard Police said William O’Neil, 51 of Maynard, is charged with placing an explosive device and possessing an explosive device, and that more charges may follow. They say he put two different Maynard neighborhoods on edge by placing homemade bombs near houses.

He was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing in Concord District Court Wednesday.

William O’Neil is charged with possessing and placing and explosive device. (Maynard Police)

He was arrested at his home around 5:30 a.m., two days after a neighbor called 911 to report a suspicious package left on his porch.

“We don’t have a motive at this point,” said Maynard Police Chief Mark Dubois. “It did seem random. That’s something that I think they’ll continue to try to figure out.

Near O’Neil’s home, one neighbor simply said “good” when told O’Neil was arrested.

Police said he left the most recent bomb in a neighborhood full of kids, a block away from his home.

Heather Hunt and her son Noel recently moved to the area, and she found the arrest disturbing.

“It’s frightening to think that he could stumble upon something and get really hurt,” Hunt said of her son.

The Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad rendered that device safe, and authorities said a fingerprint found on that device linked it to O’Neil.